Group items tagged

U.S. imports and exports of all brass mill products fell in September, according to data from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council: imports fell 21.7% y/y to 37m lbs (from 47.3m lbs), exports fell 21% y/y to 19.7m lbs (from 25m lbs). Mexico was both leading supplier of imports (7m lbs) and top export destination (6.7m lbs). Imports/exports breakdown was: sheet, strip, plate and foil products 10.5m lbs/ 8.1m lbs; pipe and tube products 18.1m lbs/5.9m lbs; profiles, rods and bars 6.5m lbs/3.6m lbs; copper alloy wire 1.9m lbs/2.1m lbs.

Jinlong Seamless Copper Pipe Co. and Hailiang, China's top two producers of seamless refined copper pipe and tube, are both included in the current US anti-dumping investigations into imports from China and Mexico. Jinlong (which exports to the US, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa) last month opened a new plant in Mexico (annual production capacity 60,000 tonnes), designed to supply demand in North and South America. Hailiang's exports of pipe and tubes to the US in 2008 were15,479 tonnes (10.5% of total sales), and in 1H09 5,622 tonnes (7.9% of total). In total China exported 50,000 tonnes in 2008, and 30,000 tonnes in 1H09.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on 13 November took a unanimous vote to continue its anti-dumping duty investigations into imports of seamless refined copper pipe and tube from China and Mexico. Preliminary determinations are due 9 March 2010. On 21 October, the U.S. Commerce Department formally initiated anti-dumping investigations (petitioned by domestic manufacturers Cerro Flow Products Inc, KobeWieland Copper Products LLC and two divisions of Mueller Industries Inc), finding estimated dumping margins of 60.5% for China and 76.5% to 85.7% for Mexico.

Prysmian opens its new extra high voltage (EHV) power cable plant in Abbeville (South Carolina) on 22 October, the first one of its kind in North America which until now has had to import this technology. The Italian-based group has invested €32m (US$48m) in the new facility to get competitive advantage in a market due to benefit from major government investment to modernize power transmission networks and exploit renewable energy.

According to preliminary data issued 20 October by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG), in the period January-July this year there was an apparent global production deficit of 186,000 tonnes refined copper (seasonally adjusted to 62,000t surplus). This compares to a production deficit of 207,000t (seasonally adjusted to 37,000t surplus) in the same period in 2008. In July, the market showed a nominal surplus of 2,000t following 5 months of continued apparent deficit.

U.S. imports and exports of all brass mill products fell in August, according to data from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council: imports fell 39.5% y/y to 33,722,170lbs (from 55,739,462lbs), exports fell 23.2% y/y to 16,794,773lbs (from 21,872,727lbs). Top export destination was Mexico (6,172,820lbs) while China topped imports (9,321,119 lbs). Imports/exports breakdown was: sheet, strip, plate and foil products 7,518,345lbs/ 5,916,108lbs; pipe and tube products 18,186,279lbs/5,446,636lbs; profiles, rods and bars 6,130,905lbs/3,538,226lbs; copper alloy wire 1,886,642lbs/1,893,802lbs.

The Tres Amigas Project has decided to use a superconductor wire and cable system supplied by American Superconductor Corp., with multiple AC/DC converters connected by DC superconductor cables, to provide the first interconnection of all 3 of America's power grids. The new power hub will enable the transfer of power from multiple renewable energy sources across a wide area of North America.

The U.S. Defense Dept. is currently funding research to test whether copper-a proven antimicrobial agent-can be used in the fabrication of HVAC systems to stop pathogenic bacteria before they find their way into the airstream. Principal investigator Gene Feigley, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of South Carolina, says there are reasons to expect systems made with copper will outshine now-commonplace aluminium in the trials, which will also test longterm efficiency and ease of recycling.

U.S. imports and exports of brass mill products inched higher in July, according to data from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council. Imports rose 0.8% to 36.1 million lbs, from 35.8 million lbs in June, but were down 40.2% y/y. Exports were 18.6 million lbs, up 2.2% from June but down 25.9% y/y. Imports were highest from China and Mexico was the leading destination for exports. Sheet, strip, plate and foil imports totalled 8.5 million lbs; exports were 7.3 million lbs. Pipe and tube imports totalled 20.2 million lbs; exports were 6.6 million lbs. Imports of profiles, rods and bars totalled 6 million lbs; exports were 3.4 million lbs. Imports of copper alloy wire totalled 1.4 million lbs; exports were 1.3 million lbs.

U.S. imports of all brass mill products in June fell 31.1% yr/yr to 35,794,970 lbs (from 51,938,141 lbs a year ago) and exports fell 36.7% to 18,223,779 lbs (from 28,792,524 lbs), according to data from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council; imports were highest from China and Canada was the leading destination for exports. Sheet, strip, plate and foil product imports totalled 6,672,718 lbs, with exports at 5,769,610 lbs; imports of pipe and tube products totalled 20,849,154 lbs, with exports at 5,719,773 lbs.; imports of profiles, rods and bars totalled 6,503,362 lbs, with exports at 5,006,904 lbs; and imports of copper alloy wire totalled 1,769,736 lbs, with exports at 1,727,491 lbs.

Belden announced on 20 July that it plans to cease production activities by July 2010 at one of its Leominster, Massachusetts plants, with the loss of 170 jobs. The facility manufactures wire and cable products for enterprise applications throughout the U.S. Production will move to other existing Belden plants in Leominster, Massachusetts, Monticello, Kentucky, and Nogales, Mexico.

Leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are calling on
the Department of Energy (DOE) to allocate US $250 million of the $2.5 billion
in stimulus funding for renewable energy research and development to the
emerging marine renewable energy industry. The funding would help develop wave,
current and tidal energy technologies

DOE Offers $2.4 Billion to Support Next-Generation Electric Vehicles

President Barack Obama announced on March 19 that DOE is offering up to $2.4
billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to support
next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and their advanced battery
components. Of the $2.4 billion, $1.5 billion in grants will go to U.S.
manufacturers to produce high-efficiency batteries and their components; $500
million in grants will go to U.S. manufacturers to produce other components
needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors; and $400 million will go
towards projects that demonstrate and evaluate plug-in hybrids and other
electric infrastructure concepts. When these plug-in hybrid vehicles are offered
for sale, U.S. residents who purchase them will be able to claim a tax credit of
up to $7,500. Building a plug-in hybrid vehicle industry in the United States
will create tens of thousands of jobs and will reduce our nation's dependence on
foreign oil.

Unable to retrench like their unregulated counterparts, utilities are investing more than they were just a few years ago while paying record spreads over risk-free rates for financing. At the same time, revenues are under pressure due to softening power prices and an economically driven drop in demand. The past three months have seen a 1.8 per cent drop in US power usage versus the same period a year ago, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Adding insult to injury, Macquarie Research reckons regulators might become less generous when setting rates since compressed Treasury note yields may be used to justify a lower regulated return on equity.